Clean cooking technologies, information, and communication technology and the environment.

Abstract

In recent years, researchers and politicians have become concerned about the ever-increasing energy consumption of ICT gadgets. Any effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions should take the ICT industry's carbon emissions into account, given the widespread usage of ICT products across all economic sectors. Employing Driscoll-Kraay Panel Corrected Estimators for E7 economies from 2000 to 2020, we examine the direct impacts of ICT on ecology as well as the indirect implications through connections with the availability of clean fuel and technology for cooking and trade while also adjusting for population and renewable energy. From the empirical findings, it was observed that the two proxies of ICT services (i.e., internet-penetration and mobile-subscriptions) were negatively significantly connected with E7's (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey) carbon emissions. Similarly, access to clean fuel and technologies for cooking and renewable energy decreases emission levels within the E7 economies, while trade openness and population growth increase emission levels within the said economies. Moreover, the method of moment quantile regression used as a robustness check affirms the baseline technique. According to the findings, the E7 economies can safely boost internet usage and associated technologies to lower emissions. They may lessen their negative impact on the ecosystem by increasing the utilization of renewable energy and expanding access to clean fuel and cooking technologies.